Library Use Possible By June If Township Voters Approve

March 08, 1988|by JENNIFER RITENOUR, The Morning Call

If Bethlehem Township voters approve an April 26 referendum requiring the township to contract with the Bethlehem Area Public Library, residents would be able to use the facility as early as June 1, at a cost to the township of $62,658 for the remainder of the year.

But the chairwoman of the Library Board said an affirmative referendum vote does not preclude the township's plan to build its own library.

In answer to the Bethlehem Township woman who placed the issue on the ballot for the fifth time, the Library Board last night indicated that the three-year period stipulated by the referendum granted them enough stability to allow the township to enter mid-year.

The township had been given a Feb. 1, 1988, deadline to contract with the library after its November referendum vote, which permitted commissioners to negotiate with the library but did not require them to sign a contract.

If the township had contracted with the library after Jan. 1, it would have been required to pay an additional $8,123 to make up for lost state funding.

"The January-February deadline was necessary because that contract would have been for an unknown time," said board member Richard Villani. "Here, we know that they're committed for three full years. And if they're committed for three full years I see no reason why they can't (join mid-year.) There's no animosity between our board and the people of Bethlehem Township."

Betty Ann Wise, who placed the question on the ballot, told the board she included the three-year requirement to give them "some continuity in budgeting" and give "some relief" to Bethlehem Township residents who have fought for library service for years.

Library Board Chairwoman Jan Brody said the February deadline had been set because the board had seen such "seesawing" on the part of the township and worried that another referendum in November could result in the township's third withdrawal from the library, again upsetting the budget. The April referendum, however, would be legally binding for three years

Library Director Jack Berk said that, if a contract were signed in May, the library would be able to have service ready by June 1.

Berk also told the board that they had three options to determine the cost to the township, all based on seven-twelfths, or seven months, of the $8.21 per person per year rate charged for all contracting townships. One option, he said, was the simple fraction of the population, which would be $57,920.

Another option would add the entire $8,123 in lost state funding, bringing the total to $66,043. The third, which board members approved after deciding that they should provide the figure before the election, would add seven- twelfths of the lost funding for a total cost of $62,658 for the remainder of the year.

But Brody told Wise that she doesn't think a three-year contract precludes the township's building itsown library. "I don't see that an affirmative vote on this referendum would be an end to building a library. Bethlehem Township is growing and it may very well need its own library sometime in the future."

In a related matter, the board reviewed its non-resident policy, affirming its stand that individual non-resident cards will not be issued, and putting in writing an unwritten policy that non-residents who pay real estate taxes or rent a business property in one of the participating municipalities are entitled to a one-year card.

The one-year card became an issue last week, when Bethlehem Township Commissioner Francis Sitoski, who repeatedly has cast votes that have prevented township residents from joining the library, admitted that he has been a member of the library the last two years.

"Funding for the library comes from the real estate tax base," Berk said, adding that the library has always had an unwritten policy that a non- resident who can show proof of paying real estate tax, either with a tax receipt or a rent receipt, can be issued a card for one year.

He estimated that only about 100 people are eligible for the one-year card. He said, however, that such card holders are not eligible for a card for the statewide library program. "Access Pennsylvania is only for residents," he said.

On the policy of not issuing cards to other non-residents, which was implemented when Bethlehem Township first contemplated withdrawing from the library, Berk said all other contractors, including the city, had said that if non-resident cards were issued, they too would withdraw from the library, since it would be cheaper.

"People don't understand it and we get hammered to this day, but we wouldn't be a public library if we sold individual cards," he said.